We’re still a couple of months away from the theatrical release of Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but director Peyton Reed shared some new details on the film in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
- Reed made it a point to let fans know that this third Ant-Man film will not be as small and inconsequential as his previous installments, saying he “metaphorically kicked in Kevin Feige's door” to ensure that:
- "People felt like, Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie. For this third one, I said, 'I don't want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.'"
- One of the aspects of the film that will drastically change the scope is the presence of the Quantum Realm, which Reed shared some new details about:
- "In the first one, we introduced the idea of the Quantum Realm, we kind of dipped our toe into it, and then even more so in the second one. But we obviously left a lot of unanswered questions. We wanted to go in a different direction, and create an epic movie where the bulk of it takes place in the Quantum Realm. For me, it was really exciting, because the other two films take place in San Francisco, and this one, we were creating this incredibly complex subatomic world, and all the environments and ecosystems and creatures and beings that inhabit that world."
- While in the Quantum Realm, our heroes will meet a yet-unnamed character played by Bill Murray. Reed discussed this character a bit as well:
- "Bill Murray plays a character from Janet van Dyne's past. It's a crucial role. A big theme in this movie is the things that parents and kids don't say to each other, the secrets that they keep in families. In the last movie, when Hank and Hope rescue Janet, Evangeline Lilly's character had this idea of: Oh, I'm going to be reunited with my mom, this is going to be great, we're going to talk about everything. But what happens if the other person, in this case Janet, puts up a wall and maybe is not comfortable talking about certain things and doesn't reveal certain things about her past? As we know from great stories, you can put the past behind you, but the past will always find a way to show up again. Bill's character represents that in this movie."
- Of course, the more obvious big picture presence in this film is that of the villainous Kang the Conqueror, who will eventually serve as the primary antagonist in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. Reed was excited to get the opportunity to play with such an important villain in the Marvel Universe:
- "I grew up a real Marvel comics nerd, and there are a handful of antagonists in the Marvel comics universe who are all-timers. Loki, obviously. Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four. And Kang the Conqueror. In conversations with Kevin Feige and Marvel, it was like, I want to put Ant-Man and Wasp up against a really formidable villain in this movie, and so we're doing Kang the Conqueror. In the comics, Kang has dominion over time, he's a time traveler. His situation is a little bit different in this movie, which I won't spoil for you, but he's someone who, [while] we live very linear lives, from childhood to death, Kang doesn't exist that way. It struck me as interesting to take the tiniest Avengers — in some people's minds maybe the least powerful Avengers — and put them up against the most powerful force in the multiverse."
- This film won’t completely lose that family dynamic built up by the previous two installments though. Reed mentioned the progression of the relationship between Scott Lang and his daughter Cassie:
- "One of the single most intriguing things that I was excited to do in this movie was progress the Scott-Cassie relationship. It's been central to all the Ant-Man movies, the big difference here being that, as a result of Endgame, Cassie is now a young woman. She has become a scientific mind in her own right. She's been going through Hank Pym's old journals and notebooks, and has really latched on to this idea of quantum science and quantum technology."
About Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
- The third film in the Ant-Man series was announced back at the Disney Investor Day presentation in December 2020.
- Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, and Michelle Pfeiffer will all return and will be joined by Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang.
- Jonathan Majors also joins the cast as the major Marvel Comics villain Kang the Conqueror.
- Peyton Reed will also return to direct the third film while Jeff Loveness, known for Rick & Morty, is writing the script.
- Bill Murray, who makes a brief appearance in the trailer, has also joined the cast of the upcoming film.
- Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is set to hit theaters on February 17th, 2023.